Falling down the rabbit hole
by Bitcheesquared
Summary: One shot post 3:22 When Elena wakes up to find she's a vampire, she realizes she might have made the biggest mistake of her life. So it's a real shame that Damon's left town and doesn't look like coming back. Crackfic OOC... Just a little.


Falling down the rabbit hole.

The first time she realized she might have made the biggest mistake of her life was approximately twenty minutes after she woke up from her transition.

The taste of blood in her mouth and a pounding headache boring in to her skull; Elena Gilbert groaned as everything came back to her in a sudden unwanted and furious rush. The memories; that were shaping up to be just the first in a long line of irony's, had her groaning and cursing what she feared would be her very long life .

Her next thought after her little epiphany had been both succinct and less than elegant.

Shit! I'm gonna kill him.

And that had been the sum total of her thoughts right up until barely twenty minutes later when Caroline had come up to Stefan's room to check on her. After a brief conversation her day had only gotten worse.

The second time she realized she might have made the biggest mistake of her life, was just shy of twenty four hours after she'd become a vampire. It took Stefan kissing her and her feeling absolutely nothing to consider it, but consider it she did.

The third time she realized she might have made the biggest mistake of her life was barely two hours after she had broken up with Stefan.

Twenty seven hours had passed by the time she went to Damon's room to find out why he hadn't bothered to come to see her and to tell him he was a dick.

Twenty seven hours and two minutes later, after reading his note she realized that she'd definitely made the biggest mistake of her life. Caroline had been right, Damon was gone and he wasn't coming back anytime soon.

So having made the biggest mistake of her life what was a girl to do?

Naturally she called Bonnie.

Bonnie was, she had to admit (understandably) somewhat reluctant to help in Elena's quest to fix the biggest mistake of her life.

But as true friends often do; even if they think you might be more than a little nuts, she eventually agreed.

The first time she admitted out loud that she had made the biggest mistake of her life, was later that same day. Sobbing out her pain and disappointment over the failed location spell, she'd cried herself to sleep in Caroline's arms.

Weeks passed and she learned how to be a good little vampire that would never ever try to eat a friend; at least not after that first time.

She even learned how to drink blood from a bag without spilling it all over herself. She was pretty sure that stain wasn't coming out of her favorite top any time soon, no matter how many times she washed it.

And of course she went on long, and what she secretly thought as needlessly gruesome hunting trips. Where both Caroline and Stefan did their best to instruct her in the  
art of being stealthy.

She decided she really didn't like bunny, the fur kept sticking in her teeth.

She even managed to be (mostly) considerate to Stefan's obvious distress over their breakup, well apart from that one time she'd been a little cranky.

And really it wasn't like he hadn't heard the words Fuck off before. And she had apologized twice for throwing him through that window. Anyway it served him right for bringing up the whole secret agreement thing he'd had with Damon.

So life went on and so did she.

Unfortunately while her life was busy going on; and wasn't the word Life a bit of a misnomer with her being dead and all, she had also realized that admitting that she'd made the biggest mistake of her life didn't do anything to stop her feeling like her heart had been ripped out.

Every day that she berated herself for the fuckedupness (was that even a word?) of her life, it only made her miss Damon more. Every place she went reminded her of him and with her senses now heightened to stupid crazy levels, just being in a place where his scent still lingered was driving her crazy.

She missed him, craved him and wanted him back with a desperation that she could barely fathom. And a part of her thought it was only fitting, because wasn't that exactly the way he'd felt the whole time he'd known her.

Truthfully sometimes she felt just like Alice.

She'd fallen down the rabbit hole and everything in her life was now topsy turvey.

She was a vampire; something she had desperately tried to avoid, and she was in love with her former boyfriends brother. A guy that not too long ago she had vowed to stay away from and who she'd pushed away so often, that in the end he'd just given up and left town for good.

And in the ultimate show of the irony that was now her life; he'd left pretty much at the same time she'd woken up and realized she'd made, (yep you guessed it) the biggest mistake of her life.

Life just sucked!

More Damonless months passed and Elena had pretty much run out of hope that she'd ever see him again.

She'd tried every way she knew how to find him, even going so low as to beg for Stefan's help.

When Stefan finally admitted he'd run out of ideas she'd sat down and cried herself sick, and then she'd gotten shitfaced drunk, and sick didn't even begin to describe how she'd felt the next day. Who knew vampires could get hangovers that bad. And wasn't it a bit weird, that even with only blood and booze in her system, the mess she'd left on the parlours priceless oriental rug, still managed to look like she'd been eating carrots.

So she cleaned the rug,; she hoped nobody noticed it's new slightly orange shade, took a long hot shower and decided then and there that even though she'd made the biggest mistake of her life, she wasn't going to let it destroy the rest of it.

Shit firmly together; both vampire related and emotional, she sucked it up (no pun intended) and went back to school. Determined to pass her senior year and graduate, she blocked out everything that wasn't study related.  
She stopped hanging with friends, holing up in Damon's room for long hours as she studied to be ready for her finals. She refused every attempt to fix her up on a date and any guy even attempting to ask her out was in grave danger of being eaten.

Surrounded by Damon's things and immersed in his fading scent she spent long hours either studying or lost in her memories of the man she'd loved too late.

Of course her friends and brother worried about her, but now that she was a vampire whose temper was a little on the short side, they consoled themselves with the fact that at least she was doing something productive. Which they agreed was an improvement over her getting drunk and pining away for Damon. Besides, Stefan had refused flatly to even consider trying to talk to her after the last time. His hair had only just grown back and it had taken him two days to find his daylight ring.

When Katherine turned up a month later he was almost relieved.

The down and dirty cat fight that resulted later that same day had him briefly rethinking his position, but in the end he decided watching Elena give as good as she got was worth a few broken windows and some smashed furniture.

For the first time he found himself wishing that his brother was still around. He was sure Damon would have paid good money to see Katherine get beaten down by a vampire only a fraction of her age. Looks like being a doppelganger was good for something after all. Boy would Damon be pissed that he'd missed it.

After the fight, weirdly and to Stefan's great disgust, both Elena and Katherine in a show of womanly solidarity, decided that bonding over their mutual loss of his absent brother, was a great way to let bygones be bygones. It didn't go as far as hair braiding and pillow fights but it was a near thing.

When Katherine came to his room a few nights later and informed him that Elena had given her blessing for Katherine to pursue a relationship with him, he wasn't sure if he felt flattered or insulted. Six hours of sex later he found himself leaning towards flattered.

So Katherine moved in with him and life went on, their weird and dysfunctional little family group giving him a peace that he'd never had before.

And when Damon came back two months later after deciding he'd made the biggest mistake of his life, everything should of been perfect.

Unfortunately for both Damon and Stefan he had no idea that Katherine was the one shacked up with his brother, so when he walked in to the parlour, only to find Stefan with his fangs buried in what he thought was Elena's throat, something in Damon snapped.

Elena had been up in Damon's room studying as usual and when she first heard the sounds of banging and crashing coming from downstairs she'd just rolled her eyes, figuring that Kat and Steff were up to their usual tricks.

When Katherine flew through the door shrieking Damon's name, saying that he was downstairs trying to kill Stefan, Elena thought she was joking.

It was the real and seldom seen fear in Katherine's eyes that finally convinced her that something was up.

Bolting down the stairs after her, Elena slid to a halt in the entry to the parlour. Gasping in horror she watched as Damon raised a splintered chair leg with the obvious intention of staking his brother.

Screaming Stop at the top of her lungs she flung herself forward.

Katherine had obviously had the same idea, because they arrived in front of the battling figures only moments apart.

Damon snarled as he saw the tell tale blur that signified that a vampire was bearing down on him. Seconds later he did a complete double-take, in more ways than one.

He gaped as the two nearly identical girls slid to a halt in front of him.

There was some swearing and some hair pulling, which Stefan apologized for later. But eventually Damon seemed to finally get that It was Katherine he had seen writhing around on his sofa with Stefan.

After a sheepish sorry, combined with a slightly nauseous grimace at his brothers choice in women, he had nervously followed Elena upstairs.

His next shock of the night came when she led him to his room and it became immediately apparent that she was quite happily ensconced there and had no intention of moving.

But that shock paled in comparison to his next one.

Before he'd even had time to open his mouth, Elena had him flat on his back on the bed and was kissing him like he'd never been kissed in his entire life.

Now his momma hadn't raised no stupid boys... Okay maybe one, he allowed. Coz Stefan? not so bright. After all, he'd managed to somehow swap Elena for Katherine; a move that Damon had to believe was the stupidest thing his brother had ever done. Deciding he was more than fine with that decision, Damon did what Damon did best.

Eight hours later, her hair a mess and her brain addled from the mind blowing sex that Damon excelled at, Elena snuggled into his chest and sighed contentedly.

Well wow! she thought, There's that irony again. Looks like the biggest mistake of my life turned out to be not doing this a hell of a lot sooner.

Okay, so she'd guessed, judging by the parade of blissed out women that she'd seen leaving his room on various occasions, that Damon Salvatore was probably pretty good in the sack. But she'd had no idea that he was this good.

The man had every reason to be cocky and she was totally kicking herself for not giving in way earlier.

My God she thought, the things he can do with his hands and tongue should be illegal; come to think of it, she was pretty sure that in certain states, some of the things they had just indulged in still were.

Smiling happily, she decided that she'd do the big talky thing in the morning, she was way too exhausted to stay awake long enough for the conversation that they needed to have.

Falling asleep in Elena's arms Damon was one happy if slightly confused vamp. He didn't quite know how he'd ended up here, but he' never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Elena might not love him, but after tonight she sure as hell was gonna crave him. Smug in his certainty that he finally had her exactly where he wanted her, Damon settled down to sleep.

When Elena woke up a few hours later she smiled with real happiness and reached for Damon. When her hand met only cool sheets, she rolled over and stared disbelievingly at the vacant spot where Damon should have been.

Meanwhile downstairs, Damon was doing the two thing he did second and third best: Getting drunk and brooding over Elena. And if asked, even Damon would have admitted that that the order of the two was subject to change.

He'd woken earlier with a sense of well-being that was completely foreign to what had been his existence, since leaving Mystic Falls.

His first tip-off, that last night had not just been a more erotic version of one of his usual dreams, was the arm draped across his chest and the legs entwined with his. The second being, the unavoidably delicious scent of his and Elena's extremely enthusiastic reunion.  
For a moment Damon just lay there basking in the wonder of his memories and the warmth of the woman in his arms.

And then that thing he didn't do so well kicked in. He started to think.

Why was he lying here in Elena's arms, why had she jumped him the way she had? Elena; at least the one Damon knew, was the sort of girl who talked first and jumped second, especially when it came to him.

And why was she so quick to interrupt his and Stefan's fight and so eager to drag him off to bed and just what the hell was she doing living in the boarding house anyway, especially when his brother was obviously sleeping with Katherine.

Unsettled by his thoughts Damon decided (stupidly) that he needed a drink.

Doing his best not to wake her, he'd gently extracted himself from Elena's hold and carefully left the bed.

Pausing only long enough to put on his discarded pants he'd then headed down to the parlour.

Half a bottle of Bourbon later he had come to a few (wrong) conclusions.

At first Damon didn't know whether to be pissed or hopeful. On one hand he finally had what he'd always wanted, Elena in his bed. But on the other hand; going by Katherine's presence and her and Stefan's get a roominess, he'd only gotten it by default.

He loved Elena, he really did, but he wasn't sure he could stand to be her consolation prize. Yes the sex was fantastic and he knew she cared about him, but that didn't change the fact that once again the woman he was sleeping with didn't love him.

Obviously, Elena becoming a vampire had changed Stefan's feelings for her.

He snorted.

Damon had always suspected that it was her humanity that his brother was really drawn too. That Stefan loved Elena because she was his chance to prove to himself that he'd never loved Katherine; that he couldn't possibly love the vampire that had ruined both brothers lives .

Because Stefan; unlike Damon, had never excepted that what he'd felt was real, he'd managed to convince himself it was her compulsion that had made him believe he was in love with Katherine.

So when Elena came along wearing Katherine's face but with a nature that was the complete opposite; of course he'd convinced himself it was her difference's he'd fallen in love with, rather than her likeness to Katherine.

In Stefan's screwed up world, loving Elena only proved that he'd never really loved Katherine.

And obviously with Katherine back in the picture and Elena losing the humanity that he'd used as an excuse, his desire for Katherine had resurfaced.

Stupid Asshole.

Wasn't life a kick in the teeth, Damon thought with a bitter chuckle.

There's Poor Elena, forced to choose between he and Stefan and what does the noble Saint Stefan do? He rejects her in favor of the blood sucking bitch that had turned him in the first place.

And of course a broken hearted Elena would to turn to the brother she'd rejected, it must have been killing her to watch those two carrying on right under her nose. She'd probably figured that she might as well finally give in to the sexual attraction that she'd fought since practically the day they met. It wasn't like she had anything else to lose. And besides, she had to know that no matter how Stefan's feelings might have changed he'd still hate it being Damon that she'd turned to.

Well Fuck that! he thought, taking another gulp of his drink.

I'm not sticking around here just to be second best again. She'd chosen bloody Stefan, so she could just suck it up now that he'd gone and chosen Katherine. Least the little bitch finally knew how it felt, he thought heatedly.

And to think; he'd actually come back because leaving her had been eating him alive with guilt. Worried because he'd left her with only bunny boy and vampire Barbie to help her navigate her new world; Neither of which were qualified to help a newly turned vamp over the pitfalls that she'd have to deal with.

Stefan had no real control to start with and Caroline was still struggling with her own vampire instincts. Leaving the two of them to teach Elena control was tantamount to leaving a couple of crack addicts in charge of a teenager; who had the least impulse control would be anybody's bet.

If or when Elena did slip, the other two would be more likely to join in than to stop her.

At least that's what he'd been unable to stop thinking about all these long months.

Show's how stupid I am he thought. Looks like she's been just fine without me.

Well then, he'd just pack up his stuff and be on his merry way. Yep he wasn't gonna hang around and be Elena's rebound guy. He could get laid just fine and with considerably less drama somewhere not here, thank you very much.

Right then, he'd just finish his drink and then he'd head up and pack.

Elena stomped down the stairs well and truly beyond mad.  
She had spent a good five minutes crying her eyes out when she thought Damon had left, and then after a quick search of the room she'd realized that he was most likely still in the house, and she'd seen red.

Halfway down the stairs she bumped into Stefan going up.

One look at her face was enough for him. It was time to duck and cover because Elena in a bad mood... He shuddered, subconsciously patting his hair as she'd stopped him to ask if he'd seen Damon.

When Stefan carefully closed the door; thankfully shutting himself inside the safety of his bedroom barely a minute later, he couldn't help breathing out a huge sigh of relief.

At Katherine's look he explained that he'd seen Elena and that she was looking for Damon. Katherine winced, both from the expression on Stefan's face and the sudden flash of pity she felt for Damon.

Stefan found himself in complete agreement with her and for the first time, in he wasn't sure how long, he found himself hoping that his brother hadn't bitten of more than he could chew. Because he sure as hell wouldn't want to be in his brothers place.

He'd take Katherine any day, she was way less scary than Elena Gilbert.

When Elena stormed into the parlour, Damon's first thought was that Katherine had decided it was her turn to torment him and so he did what he usually did where she was concerned. He poured himself another drink and tried to ignore her.

When the drink was smacked out of his hand halfway to his mouth he turned and actually gaped.

Eyes narrowing, he took in the sight of the girl standing before him; hands on hips and scowling in fury, she looked more than ready to kill.

It wasn't until he met her eyes that he realized he'd made a mistake.

Great, just what I needed, he thought with his own scowl.

Bending down he scooped up the glass from where it had fallen and then deliberately poured himself another drink.

Her scowl only got deeper, but when he asked her what her damage was only to see veins start to appear beneath her eyes, he couldn't help taking a step backwards.

For a moment there he'd forgotten that Elena was now a vampire, but as she advanced on him with fangs bared and murder in her eyes, he was quite forcibly reminded of that fact. And shouldn't he be pissed off anyway, what gave her the right to come down here and go off on him for no reason.

She'd got what she fucking wanted, where did she get off being all angry at him anyway.

What An Asshole!

Who did he think he was just standing there looking all distant and aloof, with that whole, I am a sex God pose that he did so well. First he just takes off without even a goodbye; to do God knows what or who, for how many months? Only to turn up again out of the blue and to try to kill Stefan in the first five minutes he was back.

Then the big jerk has the nerve to sleep with her; and so what if she was the one to start it, it's not like he doesn't have a mouth. He could have said no.

But oh no... not Mr. I think I'm sex on a stick Salvatore. No, he just goes ahead and rocks her world, then doesn't even have the good manners to stay in bed long enough for her to tell him what she's been waiting to tell him all these months. Stupid big headed Jerk!

God she hates him.

Katherine lounged on Stefan's bed and watched him pace. Every now and then, after an exceptionally loud crash from downstairs, he'd move towards the door; worry and indecision flitting across his face.

After he'd looked her way, with the same unasked entreaty in his eyes for the third time, she just crossed her arms and shook her head.

There was no way she was going down there, she could think of at least a hundred less painful ways to end her unlife. Getting caught up in Elena' and Damon's love life was definitely not the way she planned on going out.

Katherine Pierce had been a vicious scary legend in the vampire world for over five hundred years, and she planned on it staying that way. Getting her ass handed to her by Damon Salvatore and the newly turned Elena Gilbert would not do anything to help keep up that rep. And she liked having Stefan in one piece too, which he wouldn't be if he went down there and tried to play referee. Stupid doppelganger blood.

Oh well, at least she could console herself with the fact that Damon was the one getting pounded on this time; after all, she'd owed him one for that stake to the gut.

Damon ducked the third chair Elena had just thrown at him and attempted to work out how in the hell he appeared to be losing a fight with a woman that had only been a vampire for a few months.

Jesus she was strong; not to mention fast. And really really hot.

He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts.

Bruises and cuts aside, this new side of his love was really doing a number on his libido. Elena in a rage was a rare sight to behold at the best of times, but Elena as a vampire? My God, he wanted her so bad at the moment that the tightness in his pants was actually becoming more painful than the damage she'd done to his body.

Unfortunately, she didn't look like she was in the mood to listen to anything he had to say, never mind stopping to have sex.

Then again. He'd never played fair in the past, why the hell should he start now.

The next time she closed on him he let her.

As soon as she reached for him he made sure that his body made full contact with hers and then he very deliberately let out a soft moan and nuzzled into her neck. When she didn't automatically pull away, or break anything, he pressed even closer. And when her hands tightened on him fractionally, he smirked against her neck. Using the one unfair advantage he had left; one he was betting she didn't know about, Damon cheated .

Slowly, so as not to startle her, he brought his fangs out and scraped them against her throat.

Knowing Stefan and his huge guilt complex where Elena was concerned, he was betting that any love play indulged in since her turning would not have included fangs., at least not with Elena.

And as every half decent vampire knew, biting a lover was one of the most erotic and rewarding experiences that a vampire could have.

And he'd never been one to deny a woman his best.

Elena watched Damon duck yet another chair and growled in frustration.

The big ass hadn't said a thing to her the whole time they'd been fighting and his uncharacteristic silence was driving her nuts. Where was his usual sexually charged innuendos, where was the snark?

Right then, time to get serious. Because there was just no way she was letting him leave her again. She would tie him to the bed and feed him her own blood before she'd let that happen.

Seeing an opening in his defences she rushed him; only to be caught up against his body in a hold that she found immediately distracting,

Oh my God, did he just moan and nuzzle her neck?

He better not have, couldn't he see she was... Hmmm... hold on, was that his fangs she could feel.

Oh yeah, now that was more like the Damon she knew. Now if she could just get him to... Yes! oh yeah, bite me baby, she moaned silently feeling his fangs sink into her throat.

That's it Damon, just a little bit more, a few more sips she urged wordlessly, need pooling in the pit of her stomach.

Damon's eyes rolled back in his head as the first draw of her blood hit his tongue.

Fuck it, I'll just tie her to my bed and make her love me, was his immediate addle brained thought.

Who gives a damn if she loves Stefan more, there is no way I'm letting her go after tasting her like this.

Fangs still imbedded in her throat, he swept her up in his arms, then taking one last hard pull; just enough to guarantee the slight wooziness that he wanted, he retracted his fangs and used every ounce of his preternatural speed to move them upstairs and back to his room.

Elena's head was spinning as she felt herself dropped on the softness of Damon's bed. But honestly, the only thing she cared about at that moment was how quickly he could get them both naked.

Yes, she had him right where she wanted him. Now, if she could just get him out of his pants.

Two shirts, one skirt and a broken zipper on Damon's jeans later, they were both naked and Damon was convinced that he finally had Elena Gilbert just where he wanted her.

When her teeth sank into his throat barely seconds after that thought Damon's next thought; before he lost all ability to think, was that loving Elena might just be the death of him anyway.

Surging up to meet her bite Damon couldn't help himself, in one swift move he'd rolled and thrust up and inside her warmth.

Elena moaned in satisfaction as Damon rolled them both and positioned himself between her thighs. When he drove himself deep within her body only seconds later, it took every ounce of her self control not to lose it.

The feeling of him pounding her into the bed as the elixir that was his blood slid down her throat; very nearly tipping her over the edge. But she held on, determined to make their joining last.

By the time Damon Salvatore left this bed he was going to know exactly who he belonged to.

Damon shuddered. he could feel it building deep down inside where he'd done the best to shove it; to hide it away. He could sense his love for her fighting to be let loose, scratching and clawing at his will. More potent than even his need to come, his love for her would not be held in.

And he knew in that moment that what he felt for her was bigger than anything he'd ever known.

Because in the end, it didn't matter if she loved Stefan, that it would always be Stefan. And even the fact that the only thing she might ever feel for him would be desire and an echo of what she'd felt for his brother couldn't change it. It didn't even really matter if it was Stefan's face she pictured when Damon was inside her.

Because the truth was, that somewhere along their tortured and twisted path she had become more important to him than both his pride, or the need to shelter the last ragged remnants of his heart. She was like the blood he needed to survive and like blood, he knew that without her there was no existing, not anymore.

Oh God, she loved this man so much, why hadn't she seen it sooner, why had she pushed him away when all she'd really wanted and needed was here in his arms. How could she have believed the feelings she had for Stefan could ever compare to this.

Damon made her burn, he made her feel more alive with a single look than Stefan had managed with all his careful lovemaking.

She'd thought she'd known the meaning of passion in Stefan's' arms, but being in Damon's showed her that she hadn't even known what true passion was.

It was as though all her senses had been damaged, as if she'd seen and experienced the world through a veil that she hadn't known was there. Damon had torn that veil from her and everything, every touch, every color, every taste; all of them were so much brighter and more intense. She felt like a sleepwalker; awakening only to discover that the world they had thought was real, was in actual fact a dream that barely echoed the waking world.

She couldn't lose him again. If he left her this time, after knowing what it felt like to be with him, she knew no amount of love for her brother or friends would stop her from taking her ring off and greeting the sun.

Damon's movements sped up, pushing into her deeper and just that little bit further with each thrust, and Elena felt herself lose the ability to think altogether, her orgasm crashing down in a torrent of mindless pleasure.

Shrieking Damon's name, Elena Gilbert's world narrowed down to the bed and the man who'd she'd finally realized was all that she wanted. Lost in the pleasure of her release she was barely aware of the words that spilled from her lips.

Damon had been determined to hold off his climax as long as possible. If he could have nothing else from her, he would have her realization that what she felt when he touched her was about him, not because he was a convenient replacement for his brother.

Staring down into her face he could tell she was right on the edge, the look of bliss as she opened her eyes to meet his, a vindication of everything he wanted. It was him she was seeing, him that she was feeling this for, not Stefan, and this time when they were through she'd have no way to hide from it.

As he drove into her over and over again, harder and deeper, he was determined that the only name she'd be screaming tonight would be his.

And scream it she did. And maybe Damon would have been able to hold on through just that, maybe he could have stopped himself from going over the edge with her. But the next words out of her mouth put paid to that.

Her; Oh God Damon! he'd half expected but her, I love you, I love you, please please don't leave me, blew not only his concentration and control, it also obliterated every last bit of his resistance. He didn't even get a chance to process those impossible words before he found himself falling over that edge in every possible way.

The first thing Damon did when he opened his eyes was groan. The second thing he did was cringe in embarrassment. He couldn't believe that not only had he lost control like a virgin on his wedding night, he'd blacked out as well. Then he remembered the who where and why.

Looking around he heaved a sigh of relief. Elena was right where she should be, in his bed and even better than that she seemed to be just as unconscious as he'd been only seconds before.

Thank God for that, she'd already had his balls in her back pocket before they'd slept together, if she knew her saying she loved him while they were having sex had that sort of effect, he'd never live it down.

He smiled; a huge sappy besotted smile that he would have denied being capable of, and pulled her closer.

Elena's eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was Damon's face and the very knowing smirk that she'd missed so much.

Smiling back at him without thinking she snuggled closer and blinked sleepily as he stroked her hair.

Hmm... Hadn't they been fighting. Oh that's right, he'd bitten her and then she'd returned the favour and then she'd... Oh! she flushed as the memory of her words rushed in.

Oh well, guess that cat was well and truly out of the bag, might as well just get it over with so he could start the gloating portion of her night.

Stupid smug vampire.

Rolling her eyes she banged her forehead against his chest a couple of times before looking up again to meet his gaze.

"Okay okay... I love you and I'm an idiot and I made the worse mistake in my life when I didn't choose you blah blah blah... There, are you happy now. Now you can go back to sleeping your way through the female population of the world, safe in the knowledge that your batting average is still one for one, or whatever batting averages are supposed to be when they're perfect."

She pouted and then scowled. God even my analogies suck.

"Go on then, get it out of your system, have at it, let the smugness commence. Tell me how the worst thing you've ever done was thinking you were in love with me, but now that we've actually slept together you realize you're over it and that you can't wait to leave town again and-and you only came back for your signed copy of gone with the Wind, or something along those lines and knowing you just as stupid."

Damon's grin if anything, just got wider.

God he loved this girl and apparently she loved him. He was tempted for a moment, to do what she had suggested, drag it out be a little cocky even, but then he noticed the glimmer of something in her eyes that he hadn't seen directed his way for a very long time. She was scared and trying not to show it.

His expression softened immediately and he slid his hands from around her to reach up and cup her face.

Putting his best and dirtiest smirk in place he stared into her eyes.

"Uh let's see... Hmm... that would be a hell no! You love me, you said it and despite the little speech you just made that has me thinking you might have gotten a bad bag of blood, you Elena Gilbert are, whether you like it or not. And let me be clear on this... there are no take-backs and no musical vampires." he said pointedly.

"You my love are now forever and always stuck with me. Coz sweetheart," he smiled reaching down to brush his cheek against hers. "leaving you was the worst mistake of my life and I am never ever doing it again. If you want me gone you'll just have to stake me. -So-Deal-with-It.

He watched the joy light up her face and he was pretty sure his face matched hers as she threw herself on top of him. There were I love you's and forever's that were all jumbled together and they both knew there were things they still needed to talk about, but the important bits, the things that needed saying... suddenly the words weren't so important, not anymore.

There were no more words needed... it was all there in their eyes.

And it was Love.

The end


End file.
